From June 15 to 22, stop in at St. Vital Centre to visit Weaving Worlds, an art exhibit the celebrates culture and identity through student storytelling and photography.
Weaving Worlds is on display at St. Vital Centre until June 22.
Put on by the Department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications, the exhibit was borne out of a presentation on multiculturalism at the Architecture, Media, Politics, and Society (AMPS) conference at the University of Greenwich last summer, said Dr. Helen Lepp Friesen, Associate Professor.
"After the presentation, conference attendees said that if we were ever looking for collaborators, they would be interested. They also gave us ideas for how the student work could be exhibited," said Dr. Friesen.
This exhibit features selected works from My Home, My Heritage: Where I Am From, an assignment that invited students to explore and share their cultural backgrounds through meaningful personal artefacts. Students chose a meaningful cultural object, task, piece of music, instrument, or event that represented an aspect of their identity. They then photographed the artefact and wrote about what made it meaningful.
"Students presented both their artefact and writing in class and reflected on what they learned about themselves, their heritage, and their classmates," said Dr. Friesen.
An international effort
The project is an international effort, with contributions from approximately 100 university students in Bahrain, Qatar, China, UK, and USA. Dr. Friesen made connections with university colleagues at other conferences, and those connections led to this project.
"It highlights the power of storytelling, multimodal expression, and cross-cultural connection. Students realized they have more in common with each other than they realized. They gain pride from their heritage and they learn from each other."
Dr. Friesen shared what one student from the University of Bahrain said about the project: "This assignment showed me that our culture isn't just history, it's a living part of us. It really opened my eyes to how my generation needs to step up and make sure these traditions stay alive and vibrant. This project changed everything for me. I used to see this thobe as just a dress, but now I see it as a bridge between the women in my family. My heritage is a story I carry with pride, and it's finally my turn to keep it alive."
The public art installation at St. Vital Centre is the third phase of the project, after the writing project and class presentation. The other participating universities are doing similar displays.
Dr. Friesen hopes to continue Weaving Worlds next year, working with Dr. Jaqueline McLeod Rogers and Dr. Eunhee Buettner.
